When it comes to the summer months, parishioners start saying goodbye, some for a couple of weeks, others for the entire summer.

There may be a vacation from work but there is no vacation from God. Why would you want to take one? Can you think of anything more wonderful than taking time in the summer to enjoy consciously the presence of God. Whether we go to the beach or to the mountains, or put up a hammock someplace and laze under a tree, we can consciously enjoy the presence of God.

If we stay home and enjoy time with the family, we can thank God for time to spend with the loved ones he has given us. If we go away, going to Mass in a nearby church gives us the sense that in God's family, we belong, even when we are strangers. Our leisure time in the summer is well used when we choose to connect with God our Source. Everything we have comes from him, and our leisure time is a good time to discover him in the midst of it all.

Psalm 139 sasys "Where can I hide from your spirit? From your presence, where can I flee? If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in Sheol, you are there too. If I fly with the wings of dawn and alight beyond the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand hold me fast." There is no place from which God is absent. We must be intent upon finding him.

When it comes right down to it, there is no vacation from God because God refuses to take a vacation from us.